The Kitáb-i-Aqdas
Notes
prohibit the use of wine and other intoxicating drinks and which describe the deleterious effect of such intoxicants on the individual. In one of His
Tablets,
Bahá’u’lláh states:
Beware lest ye exchange the Wine of God for your own wine, for it will stupefy your minds, and turn your faces away from the Countenance of God, the All-Glorious, the Peerless, the Inaccessible. Approach it not, for it hath been forbidden unto you by the behest of God, the Exalted, the Almighty.
‘Abdu’l-Bahá explains that the Aqdas prohibits “
both light and strong drinks”, and He states that the reason for prohibiting the use of alcoholic drinks is because “
alcohol leadeth the mind astray and causeth the weakening of the body”.
Shoghi Effendi, in letters written on his behalf, states that this prohibition includes not only the consumption of wine but of “
everything that deranges the mind”, and he clarifies that the use of alcohol is permitted only when it constitutes part of a medical treatment which is implemented “
under the advice of a competent and conscientious physician, who may have to prescribe it for the cure of some special ailment”.
145.turn your faces toward Him Whom God hath purposed, Who hath branched from this Ancient Root
¶121
Bahá’u’lláh here alludes to ‘Abdu’l-Bahá as His Successor and calls upon the believers to turn towards Him. In the
Book of the Covenant, His Will and Testament, Bahá’u’lláh discloses the intention of this verse. He states: “
The object of this sacred verse is none other except the Most Mighty Branch.” The “
Most Mighty Branch” is one of the titles conferred by Bahá’u’lláh on ‘Abdu’l-Bahá. (See also notes
66 and
184.)
146.In the Bayán it had been forbidden you to ask Us questions.
¶126
The Báb forbade His followers to ask questions of Him Whom God will make manifest (Bahá’u’lláh), unless their
227